One question, how long did it take you to type all that?

 

This sounds so familiar! You got to love um. I have 4 C3's so I always have something to work on!

 

The vette force is strong with this one!
I hope things work out from here on. How is the job situation?

 

So, Cliff's Notes:

-You are the Poster Child for How Not To Buy A Corvette.
-You have over 20 thousand dollars into an '82 custom worth 6-ish?
-The cop should have given you at least one more ticket if not a tour of the jail for being a wisea$$. PS, nice of you to make fun of him and his profession when you lasted 2 days at yours.
-You discovered how not to start a new career.
-The car isn't close to finished.

Got it.

 

Your version is so much less entertaining.

 

This would have been MY final look at it as I kept walking down the road!
Looks good, tho. Can't stop now!

 

good story and good ending i hope you keep the car forever, i just repurched a 72 [had it 3 years now], i had a 71 for 10 years from71/81 sold it to buy a house finnally bought another after 25years , i missed that old car

 

My friend, if you are just a car guy who loves your car these are the moments that will forever shape your love for the hobby. We love our cars and the expieriances that go with them. You have an awesome looking piece fo automotive history. ENJOY IT! good luck and oooooooooohboy I bet we could all tell you some stories, you are not alone!!!!

 

He's got a point though, sometimes people mistake stupidity for persistence. Why would you (1) Forfeit your job over a car, and (2) Go through all of this for months and months, spending all of this money knowing it still won't be done, and even PAINTING AN UNFINISHED CAR when it still doesn't run right and is the only car you have? Not to mention doing this all to an 82 CE, the only Corvette out of all of the 80-82's that have managed to retain any value and are still somewhat desirable to collectors. That doesn't make any sense at all. I mean, the first time it broke down and the words "new motor" came into your mind, any rational person should have said "Should I really drop $5k on this car right now, or should I take that $5k and go buy a good late model RELIABLE car and shelve this project for a little while. Heck, for $5k with truck prices being what they are you could have bought a 2003-2005 pickup and a trailer so you could have towed the vette to all of its appointments as you worked on it and never had to worry about it breaking down on you.

I know "hindsight is 20/20" and I love seeing a basket case classic car become a beauty just as much as the next guy, but you just don't do it to the car you have to drive to work. That's not "persistence", that's insanity.

 

Well I wasn't hoping to get so many haters out there. I get a laugh out of all the stories and experiences. Yes, I'm an idiot regarding cars, but I admit it and am learning rather quickly. Thanks for all the nice replies from everyone other than Ron R and Vettebuyer5869. To reply to some of the quips posted above:

-These repairs did not all happen at once, they happened several months apart from one another so it didn't seem like an insurmountable task financially or practically to repair each thing along the way.

-I didn't quit my new job for the car; the car contributed to other stresses in my life that the end result was a trip to the hospital for exhaustion, dehydration and anxiety. I had another car to drive during that period and could have waited on picking up the vette....just thought I would make it.

-I got another job within a week that paid about 20% more than the one I had moved for. Oh, and there is no crawling to work when you were as sick as I was and scheduled to work three 14-16 hour shifts in three days. Also, get to live in a better part of town and for less rent than before. I have been to the hospital twice in my entire life and work 70-100 hours/week as it is so it wasn't a matter of work ethic. But yes, I should have taken a cab to work, passed out in the lobby so they knew I was for real about being sick.

-I agree this is a poster story on how not to buy a corvette. That's part of the reason why I posted it. Yes, I could have purchased a truck or a used saturn or just kept driving my 1988 BMW which is still running just fine to this day. But if that is what you think is best then why the hell do you own a corvette? People don't buy these cars as financially practical means of transportation, they are f***ing coolest cars ever (well C3s at least). I want to look good every day, and well, it is hard to justify buying another car and having this sit in the garage 90% of the time...might as well not have one. I could buy a good C5 for 20k, but that would defeat the purpose as well....its not what I want.

-I posted the prices to give everyone an idea of what things cost. I know I spent a bunch of money, I got over it. The way I justified it was that most people here can fix cars and probably have the time to spend doing it on the weekends. I work 6 days a week in 2 different cities and don't have free time to work on the car much. Also, I calculated the amount of time it would take me to learn how to fix something and do it vs paying a mechanic to do it vs working my job that I love overtime and it always works out better for me to pay someone else to do it and work a few extra hours that week. Add up the time you spend working on your cars and multiply that by $60/hr and tell me who has more invested in their car....you or me?

-collectors editions aren't that pretty in my opinion. Also, it didn't make a difference to me...was looking for a cheap vette with ugly paint, didn't care what it was originally. I could make the argument that buying a vette with good paint then stripping it is worse than what I did. Just think, all the remaining collector's editions are worth slightly more as a result of me taking this one away. Also, if someone did want to make it back into a collector's edition, they would have to strip and paint it...just like they would have had to do if they bought this one in the first place. Only thing missing is a broken down motor. I'm not the one who ran the original car into the ground....talk to the a**holes who owned it before me. I could buy an original CE for like 30k (barret jackson last year) with < 10k miles or you can pay like 30 or 40k or more to do a frame off on this one and restore one....lets see what makes more sense? Or, you could just invest the 30k for 30 years then buy a CE and have enough left over to buy a ZR1 also. Bottom line, no one should buy a drivable car as an investment and think they are making a wise decision (lesson learned). Buy a new vette and see how quickly it loses $15k worth of its value...that is just as dumb as what I did. My opinion is to drive it every day and enjoy it rather than have it be a trophy. Everyone is different in that regards.

-I thought about doing the $50 paint job, but then realized it also included like 80 hours of labor and would be covered in rustoleum. Due to the decals and bondo, couldn't just paint over the old stuff. This is where I made a mistake in buying this car....didn't realize how much body work costs. I admit that one... chalk it up to inexperience... but if you want a custom paint job that's what it costs.

-I reached the point where I wanted to live a little every day to make living fun rather than having a boring life.

-I would have invested this money in the stock market otherwise and would have lost like 50% of it due to the economy....might as well throw it away on a vette instead of on nothing!

-First girlfriend was an idiot. New girlfriend apparently likes me for who I am!

 

Great Story!

I think all of us have had these issues with our cars. Unfortunately yours all happened at the wrong time. Glad to hear you stuck it out!

 

That was a great story of real life, in 20 years you will look back and say those were good times. Things work out for the best sometimes and you will always remenber this time in your life so enjoy the good with the bad.

 

Funny story. Car looks good now. We've all had similar stories with these old cars. When I first bought mine, one of the power steering hoses blew off, fluid everywhere. Then I installed a new fuel pump and flooded the car when I tried to crank it. Loud explosion, blew the right side muffler completely off the car. Then one time I got my metal drop light wedged in between the starter and hot wire from the battery. Sparks raining everywhere. Wife ran for the fire extenguisher, thought the car was on fire. Then there was the time I kept hearing a thump/rumble in the back of the car. I spent a solid week replacing ujoints, rear wheel bearings, gear oil, and one of the yokes on the main drive shaft, only to find out the noise was being caused by the tread separating on the right rear tire. I had forgotten all the little things that my wife and I have been through with this old car, until I read your story. None of these things were funny at the time, when I was out in my shop, asking myself why I ever bought this old car in the first place. Looking back, now that I've got the car dependable, and have driven it all over the south without any problems, I have to say all the headaches were worth it. I'm sure if you decide to keep the car, you'll feel the same way shortly. Thanks for the story.
KC

 

That's a fantastic story, I'm glad you posted it. My 72 is still in the shop, so it's inspiring to read your story. Best of luck in the future.

 

Well said my friend, not everybody is in it for the money. It is nice to know, there are people in it for the fun of it.

 

Great story and thanks for sharing.

As bojangles said, you'll look back at these experiences and remember them as good times. Much harder to see them this way while you're on the side of the highway, waiting for a flatbed though

I'm going to keep the link to this story for the next time someone asks the question "should I buy a C3 for a daily driver?"

 

Very entertaining, I would of thrown in the towel on the second AAA call. Hope things from here are more positive. It looked like the Mako paint job came out better than I thought.

Good Luck

 

Wow! You are usually "to the point", but this one is really harsh!

Lots of us have done stupid things with cars, I know I sure have. In the end, if the thing is running and I am happy with it, the bad feelings over the mistakes and the hand-wringing over money poorly spent just get smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror.

 

I bought my 68 when I was 21 and used it as a daily driver for a few years. I did work in town, but drove it to school everyday and girlfirends house both about 30 to 40 minutes away. Only broke down on me once when the I had a problem with the driveshaft after a repair. I had many issues with things wearing out or breaking, but I made it home every time but 1.

Car only sees track time now and occasional pleasure drives. Would'nt think of using it as a daily driver or too long a cruise especially with the 4:11s in it.

I am very lucky to have my father who built the engine, painted the car and fixed everything that ever went wrong with it. Would have never been able to have car like it without him. Would'nt have been brave enough to try.

 

Vette buyer, I seem to remember a post where you came to the defense of another forum member who foolishly crashed his vette on the highway trying not to let someone pass him, but you are all over this guy. Perhaps you just always have to be the contraian?